The present invention relates to an absorbent article which is used mainly for a sanitary napkin, a virginal discharge sheet, an incontinence pad, a medical pad, toiletries, and so on, and specifically to an absorbent article capable of rapidly absorbing a body fluid, continuously keeping dryness and smoothness on a surface sheet and reducing turning back with a lapse of time.
Hitherto, materials in which an absorber made of cotton-like pulp, etc. is mediated between a liquid impermeable back sheet such as a polyethylene sheet or a polyethylene sheet laminate non-woven fabric and a liquid permeable surface sheet such as a non-woven fabric or a liquid permeable plastic sheet have been known as absorbent articles such as a panty liner, a sanitary napkin, and an incontinence pad.
In the foregoing absorbent articles, for the purposes of not only satisfying with a dry touch to a skin but also increasing the absorption rate of a body fluid, there have been proposed materials in which a heat fusible hydrophobic porous plastic sheet (so-called mesh sheet) is used as the foregoing liquid permeable surface sheet, a hydrophilic sheet called as a second sheet is mediated between the foregoing liquid permeable surface sheet and absorber, and the foregoing mesh sheet and second sheet are discontinuously joined with each other by an embossing pattern. As absorbent articles employing such a configuration, for example, those as described in the following Patent Documents 1 to 3 can be enumerated.
However, in the case where the sheet raw material is a plastic sheet, the surface exhibits film gloss, and a film feeling is given to the skin. Furthermore, in view of such a problem that the plastic sheet tightly attaches to the skin, thereby not only giving a sticky feeling but also disturbing air permeability between the skin and the surface sheet and breathing of the skin, the following Patent Document 4 proposes a surface sheet for sanitary article in which a sheet substrate 50 is made of a fiber layer containing a thermoplastic film layer 50B and a thermoplastic fiber 50A melt joined on the top of the subject film layer, apertures are arranged at prescribed intervals on the foregoing sheet substrate, and a capillary 51 continuously extending downward from a bottom face of the subject sheet substrate on the periphery of the subject aperture is formed, with the foregoing fiber layer being positioned in an inner peripheral surface thereof, as illustrated in FIG. 11.
Furthermore, the following Patent Document 5 proposes a surface material of absorbent article which is provided with peak parts 52 made of a projecting curved surface, bottom parts 53 made of a recessing curved surface, and curved surface-shaped wall parts 54 connecting the subject peak parts 52 and bottom parts 53 to each other and has an infinite number of pore parts 55 formed by the subject peak part 52 and the subject wall part 54 and bottom part 53, with the foregoing wall parts 54 and bottom parts 53 being formed in a film-like structure having a high fiber density and having substantially no liquid permeability, as illustrated in FIG. 12.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-7-328060    Patent Document 2: JP-A-8-117277    Patent Document 3: JP-A-10-272152    Patent Document 4: JP-A-2-193663    Patent Document 5: JP-A-5-228173